The greatest show in darts returns to the Alexandra Palace on Friday and the field is set for three weeks of cracking PDC World Championship action.
- Gary Anderson to win the World Championship
- Rob Cross to win the World Championship
Reasons To Oppose Market Leaders
A trio of arrowsmiths dominate the betting at Alexandra Palace, with Luke Humphries the 3/1 tournament leader.
Cool Hand has won the World Grand Prix, Grand Slam and Players Championship Finals this season and the Newbury man has developed into the sport’s leading light.
Humprhies lost to Stephen Bunting in the fourth round of the World Championship last year, and the 28-year-old has never made it past the quarter-finals of the showpiece event and that ordinary record has to be a concern for a 3/1 market leader.
Tournament form for three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen is not an issue, but a lack of consistency most certainly is.
The Green Machine made the final of the Players Championship Finals and UK Open this season, but there were early exits at the Matchplay, Grand Prix and Grand Slam and there are enough doubts to look beyond the 7/2 second-favourite.
Gerwyn Price has the ability to have a major say on the destination of the title and the Iceman lifted the 2021 PDC World Championship crown. However, that was an event played behind closed doors and the hostile crowd won’t make life easy for the Markham man.
Flying Scotsman can steam to third title
There are enough question marks surrounding the three market leaders to warrant looking elsewhere and Gary Anderson could provide the answers.
The Flying Scotsman has been better than ever on the floor this season and the two-time world champion landed three Pro Tour titles this term.
That good form has yet to translate into a major tournament victory this year, but Anderson played brilliantly when losing 16-14 to Humphires in the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam earlier this year and that gives plenty of hope for his chances at Alexandra Palace.
The 52-year-old is housed in the opposite half of the draw to the Humphries, Van Gerwen and the dangerous Josh Rock and the Flying Scotsman makes each-way appeal at 14-1.
Voltage Can Turn Up The Heat
Rob Cross had made the final of the Masters and Grand Slam this season and that suggests that Voltage may be hitting the form that saw him lift the 2018 World Championship crown.
The Hastings battler looks to have been drawn in a kind quarter, with section rivals Jose de Sousa and Jonny Clayton way off their best, and defending champion Michael Smith struggling to adapt to his new equipment.
Cross is inside the top-ten running averages on the PDC Pro Tour this year and Voltage looks a lively 16/1 chance at Alexandra Palace.
